By Melanie Jones: Subscribe to Melanie's RSS feed
February 2, 2012 2:44 PM EST
After erroneous reports Wednesday night that Donald Trump was preparing to endorse Newt Gingrich for the 2012 presidential election in Las Vegas Thursday, the reality TV star and real estate mogul came out for Mitt Romney instead.
With such a media-grabbing endorsement two days before the Nevada caucus on Saturday, some analysts say Newt Gingrich has missed out on a great opportunity to keep in the race.
In reality, however, the reality TV star and real estate mogul is the last person Gingrich wants on his side.
Trump Planning 'Major Announcement'
Trump, who once considered running for the Republican nomination and offered to moderate a debate back in 2011, tweeted last week that he had a "major announcement" about the race coming on Thursday at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas.
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Trump declined to say what the 12:30 p.m. announcement would be about, but news sources like KLAS-TV and The New York Times asserted that Gingrich would be his pick.
But one hour before the announcement, CNN.com received word that Donald Trump would be supporting Mitt Romney instead, and Trump did so.
The Donald and The Newt
Donald Trump's decision to support Mitt Romney over Newt Gingrich comes as a surprise to those who've been following the GOP 2012 primary race.
Trump and Gingrich have a comfortable history together, and frequently defend each other against attacks lobbed at them by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Back in December, when his fellow presidential hopefuls where busy boycotting the scheduled Trump-moderated debate, Newt Gingrich stepped in to defend the real estate mogul from Ron Paul's claims that he would turn the debate into an "unwanted, circus-like atmosphere."
"This is a country that elected a peanut farmer [Jimmy Carter] to the presidency," AP quoted Gingrich as saying.
"Donald Trump is a great showman; he's also a great businessman," he said, before praising Trump for his innovation. "We need to be open to new ways of doing things."
Trump, in turn, had nothing but good things to say about Gingrich on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
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